Cisco-Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless-G Broadband Router
by Linksys
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List Price: Our Price: $55.85 You Save: $11.14 (17%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $15.99 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless-G Broadband Router
Customer Review: Big Brother is Watching
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought the router to replace an older Linksys that died. Once installed, surfing the net was noticeably slower. The BIG issue, however, is the Cisco/Linksys "Home Network Defender" firewall. Do you use Facebook/MySpace? Not anymore! One of the political blogs I visit often includes frivolous links to more light-hearted items. For example: "14 Ill-advised tattoo trends." Cisco/Linksys has decreed those trends are best left to my imagination. Tattoos=Porn, evidently. While researching a paper, I googled "Founding Fathers and Alcohol." Tried to access one of the sites, and was stopped in my tracks by: "The parental controls block websites in this category: Alcohol/Tobacco/Illegal Drug."
This wouldn't be an issue if the firewall could be adjusted/disabled/removed.
It can't.
Home Network Defender does not appear in the "Add/Remove Programs" roster - it's hardwired into the router. The owner's manual provides no instructions for changing the settings. I spent 7 freaking hours on the phone with Linksys/Cisco inept Indian customer support (who immediately tried to sell me some software to address the problem), to absolutely no avail. Ditto for my own online efforts to locate a solution. All I came up with was horror story after horror story. My fault, I guess, for not doing any research before I bought the damnable thing.
If you're fond of bogged-down surfing, and an arrogant corporation dictating which sites you can an cannot visit, getcherself a Linksys WRT!
Me, I'm going with Netgear.
Customer Review: It'll fail on you
Summary: 1 Stars
This router was a bit of a pain to set up with the supposedly idiotproof Network Magic, but that may be because the printer on the network (a Canon MP620) is exceptionally difficult to network correctly. Even so, once the PC was connected in by an Ethernet cable, the printer wirelessly, and two iMacs wirelessly, the pretty little network diagram the software created was perpetually inaccurate. I don't think much of the Network Magic software. Still, the router itself worked properly. For a couple of months. Then, the wireless connection started slowing down. The iMac would be slow, unplugging the router and replugging would speed it up, and then it got to where it was permanently slow. "Was" slow, because now it isn't working at all. The Ethernet connection is fine, but not the wireless. On the support forum, a number of people report this problem, and there isn't a clear solution. The customer support guy on the phone never did grasp even what kind of computers we were using with the router. And yes, I have updated the firmware and reset the thing. No change. I hate spending more money on another router, because this one should work. But it doesn't.
Later:
Replaced the router by calling support, and they eventually gave up on trying to fix it by giving telephone advice, and authorized a return. The replacement didn't work out of the box. They went ahead and covered the return shipping for that one. #3 has been working well now for several weeks. We're keeping our fingers crossed.
Customer Review: Not great, not bad
Summary: 3 Stars
I've been using this Linksys router for a few weeks now. The wireless connection range and speed are satisfactory, but I haven't really done anything to really put a work load on it, so I can't say for sure it'll always be reliable. So far it's been good to me.
The Network Magic software is basically pointless, unless you have no experience at all with computers and need someone to hold your hand through every step of setting things up. The fact that the basic package included with the product doesn't include the Pro features like shared printing and folders seems ridiculous. Why should I have to pay money for features that come free with Windows 7?
On the bright side, the router seems to have no trouble serving a variety of different devices. The wireless printing did work during the free trial of Pro, and all our other computing devices, including my Windows laptop, a Mac OS X laptop, and a Nintendo Wii, have all been able to get on and stay on the network with no issues.
Overall, the Linksys router is functional, but not the greatest investment I've ever made. For anyone looking to buy a wireless router, I would suggest doing some research and looking for a router that actually supports all the functionality it claims to (wireless printing, shared folders, etc) without asking you to pay extra for a software license. If you really can't afford a much better one, this router will work and serve you pretty well, but it's just not as good as similar wireless network devices.
Customer Review: Worked for a month
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this because it was supposed to be very easy to set up, and it was. The signal strength was good as well. It worked for a month, but my internet speed was noticeably slower than if I plugged my PC straight into my modem (I had a wired connection from the PC to the router). I had to quit using the Internet Explorer browser because it was too slow, and switch to the Opera browser, which seemed to make up for the speed difference.
However, after a month this thing started giving me unusably slow internet speeds, like 900 bits per second over my 5 megabit cable connection. Power cycling the modem and router got it back to normal for a week or so, but over the next couple of weeks it got worse and worse. Finally, power cycling the modem and router three times resulted in this thing working for half an hour. during this whole time, whenever I unplugged the PC from the router and plugged it straight into the modem, my internet speed was perfectly normal - zipping along nicely. I tried everything- uninstall, re-install, install firmware update, I followed every bit of troubleshooting advice on the Linksys website as well as the internet in general - all of which was 100% useless.
I really don't know what to do now. It seems most routers have a good 20% - 25% of reviewers saying they have the same problem as I did, no matter which brand or model of router you're talking about. I suppose I'll try a Buffalo router next, they seem to get good reviews.
Customer Review: Wireless just doesn't work
Summary: 1 Stars
Hrmm, can you give a product ZERO stars? Considering that this product does not do what it is designed to do, I think ZERO would be more appropriate. Setup wasn't too problematic. It comes with proprietary software that needs to be installed and which runs in the system tray, which is irritating, but not deal-breaking. Once I got it set up, it seemed to work great. I had my friend and cousin over so we could add their MAC adresses to the wireless filter, but once we had that set up, they both complained about the connection being slow. After that, I started having nothing but problems.
It works fine as a wired router most of the time. But if I wanted a wired router, I would have spent $20 for a wired router instead of $50 for a wireless. I have unplugged, reset the router, and re-installed the software on my laptop, but so far, nothing has worked. I am stuck having to constantly connect and reconnect cables to get my stuff online. The wireless simply doesn't work. My laptop detects the router, but whenever I try to connect, nothing happens. No error message, nothing. It just sits there and my computer cannot connect to the internet. As much as I want to blame the cable company's crappy internet service, I know that isn't the problem. ANy time i'm connected directly to the modem, everything works perfectly, but once I try to go through the router, everything goes to hell.
I do NOT recommend this router at all. It just doesn't work.